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Thursday, September 29, 2016

Making Pandan Mochi Rolls (Kue Ayas Gulung)

A couple months ago, Mochi Rolls were trending in my Instagram news feed for few consecutive weeks. It was so HOT I just had to join those Instamoms in the Indonesian baking communities in making the mochi rolls/ayas gulung myself.

I don't know why they call this traditional bite-size snack as mochi because its chewy texture, fragrance and taste are more like Kue Ayas, which was one of my childhood favorite snacks commonly sold in Indonesia, or Steamed Soft Cake Rolls or QQ Cake in Malaysia and Singapore. Texture wise, it is not as soft nor delicate as Japanese Mochi.

Anyway, whatever the name of these pretty little steamed rolls, they taste yummy and best of all, are very easy to make. The only caveat is probably you'd have quite a bit of dirty utensils to wash once you are done making these cute bites.

To make the Pandan water:Boil 300gr of water with 4 fresh Pandan leaves. Leave the water to cool and measure 200gr of water for this recipe.

Sift all the flour ingredients into a big bowl and mix well with sugar.

Pour the 200gr of Pandan water and banana essence onto the dry ingredients and stir with a whisker to form a thick batter.

Run the thick batter in a strainer when pouring the batter to a square (9" or 20cm X 20cm) greased tray (use vegetable oil to grease the tray).

Steam the Mochi for 15 minutes.

Once removed from the steamer, immediately brush the Mochi surface with green coloring. Let it sit for 10 minutes before rolling it and removing it from the tray.

Evenly coat or dust the Mochi with the toasted glutinous flour.

Cut the rolled Mochi with a knife that is already thinly greased with vegetable oil.

Serve immediately. Store the leftover in an air-tight container and consume within 2 days.

Step-by-step instructions.

Simple and easy recipe, right? Almost fail-proof.

My childhood delicacy.

My biggest challenge when making this Mochi the other day was the fact that I only got my right hand to work with. Literally. My left hand was busy carrying Brennan. OMG this fella. I thought he was sound asleep when I started weighing all the dry ingredients. When I was nearly done with the measuring work, he wailed and demanded to be carried. I got no choice, I could not just quit making this snack halfway through so I just carried on to make this Mochi while carrying my son. My kitchen felt extra warm that afternoon. #story_of_my_life

Just a small advice, if you prefer to coat the Mochi with toasted sesame seeds instead of the toasted glutinous flour, it's best to coat the Mochi with the sesame seeds when it's still piping hot; else the sesame seeds won't stick well or evenly.